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Orchomenos, Arcadia, Peloponnesos, Greece, 370 - 340 A.D.
Kallisto, the daughter of King Lykaon of Arcadia, was seduced and impregnated by Zeus. Caught in the act, jealous Hera angrily transformed her into a bear and persuaded Artemis to shoot her. Zeus had Hermes recover the child Arkas from her womb and transformed Kallisto into the constellation Ursa Major. Arkas grew up to become the eponymous founder and king of the Arcadians. Upon his death, he was placed in the heavens beside his mother as Ursa Minor. In another version of the myth, Kallisto, as a companion of Artemis, vowed to remain a virgin but was seduced and impregnated by Zeus. Artemis seeing her condition in the bath, in anger, changed her into a bear. When her son Arkas was grown, Kallisto wandered into the sanctuary of Zeus Lykaios. Arkas, not recognizing his mother, would have killed her, but Zeus immediately transformed the pair into Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
GB62604. Bronze dichalkon, BCD Peloponnesos 1575, SNG Cop 265, VF, Orchomenos mint, weight 5.317g, maximum diameter 18.5mm, die axis 270o, 370 - 340 A.D.; obverse EPXOMEN-IΩN APKAΣ, Artemis kneeling right, holding bow, hound seated right behind her; reverse Kallisto seated left, falling backward with arms outstretched, an arrow piercing her breast, the infant Arkas below her lying on his back reaching upward toward Kallisto; very rare; SOLD
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